Booking EVA Flights from United / ANA sites - gone?
 

Hello everyone, relative frequent flyer newb here. United Airlines MileagePlus member, trying to redeem points for a one-way LAX-TPE flight.

I don't know if this is technically considered codeshare. As of a week ago around June 1, there were 2-3 flights per week from LAX->TPE direct in June and July, on Tuesdays, (some Mondays), and Saturdays. One could book these flights from the United website with either cash or with points, and they were also available on the EVA website.

I checked a few days later ~ June 5, and for June-August, almost all the flights disappeared from the United website but not EVA's. There was exactly one flight left, on July 7, on the United website, that I could book either only points (business seats only, 88K points). The next one is on September 13. The LAX->TPE direct EVA flights have also disappeared from ANA's booking website, which is also a Star Alliance member. However, if I go on EVA's website, I still see the 2-4 weekly flights LAX/TPE available, both for cash booking, and also for points redemptions via EVA's Infinity MileageLands program. Based on the "BR Adjusts Service/Schedule Due to Coronavirus Outbreak" thread a lot of rewards are not available and "Another thing is that EVA has been selling full fare in C and not releasing award seats." but oddly the seats are available directly for redemption via EVA Infinity MileageLands. I did notice that the prices are way higher than before.

Is it normal for (1) reward redemptions to just disappear like this (seems common) (2) codeshare/being able to book partner/codeshare airline flights with cash to also disappear? EVA needs the cash? Everyone snatching up the partner seats (hard to believe when only passport holders/residents/special visa holders can enter)? EVA flights just not released to partners due to constant schedule changes and confusion? They lose more money if someone books via UA vs. their own website? The only flights available for LAX->TPE on UA now have stopovers in Japan.

SFO or SEA to TPE availability on United looks similarly weird compared to EVA's site. Anyhow if things don't return to "normal", my plan is to just call EVA and ask them what is going on/what their United partnership flights are supposed to be like, and probably end up booking directly through them, cash if needed. Is there also a good way to get miles into Infinity MileageLands (EVA's rewards program)? Most of my points are either in CSR or United MileagePlus or Southwest.

LAX-TPE (or any North America-TPE BR flight) is not a codeshare service with UA. Regardless, the codeshare doesn’t mean much for award redemptions.

These are trying times for airlines. Award redemptions have become increasingly sparse, especially for partner carrier bookings. BR does not make as much money with a UA award ticket as they would through their own program and they are currently focusing on selling seats for cash at the egregious prices they have (talk about price-gouging) to keep the lights on. The availability on IML is simply because they can control the IML point redemptions and revenue flow from the program, instead of relying on their pre-arranged rates they have with each partner airline.

Let me end your mystery once and for all.

Basically, Taiwan discourages all kinds of travel now. So unless your travel is essential (including Taiwanese Passport holder), Taiwan will ban your entry:

https://www.immigration.gov.tw/media...6%E5%8D%A1.pdf

Because of that, fewer to no flight is unavoidable. That pretty much explains why there are fewer seats, award or revenue.

I noticed the same thing. I booked LAX-MLE a few weeks ago using LAX-TPE-SIN-MLE with EVA-EVA-SIN, and have been looking at other dates as the calendar rolled forward and I'm no longer seeing this route come up. Hoping it doesn't mean much for me as I'm not flying until April 2021.

You’re not crazy. I learned the same thing this week. I tried booking TPE to the US for early July. I wanted to fly direct to the USA so I researched every EVA route and they dates they’re scheduled for. I cross-referenced it with United but there was zero availability on EVA. I only saw ANA and Turkish. I decided to call to see if they could just move my existing EVA award flight in August to July. The call agent sounded like she thought I was a dimwit as she flatly started “There are zero award flights in July.” I pressed her on it and she kept confirming she saw nothing on any airline partner. I logged on while talking to her and sure enough everything I had seen was gone.

As to your more specific question: while the agent didn’t know definitively why, it appears the partner rewards have been blocked for all Star Alliance flights in this region via United until August. Her opinion is it’s to make as much revenue as possible. I decided to book a one way, economy, frustratingly expensive ticket directly through EVA.

Based on where your miles/points are held you will be best off booking through the Expedia Chase portal or paying cash directly (especially if you haven’t earned the travel credit yet). Unless you don’t have the money, I’d opt for the latter. I’ve read horrible stories about chasing refunds and getting flight changes via Expedia lately. For future reference, Citi and CapitalOne are both transfer partners with EVA.

I've seen availability for EVA award flights on UA for April, March, and May 2021. These were JFK to Bali with a stop in TPE. I saw this a couple of days ago

Yes, I was told I could book award fights starting in August 2020, but I believe OP was asking about now and that’s what I was discussing too.

I tried to book some flights on the UA website and it errors out at the last step - does not even create the PNR on the UA side. More experiences described here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...-miles-19.html

oddly, this happened to me. when I searched on Aug 2nd for LAX-TPE, there were several flights per week for mid-late Feb. I searched again today, there are zero flights until June. Anyone figure things out? does availability come back?

I can book EVA flight via united.com iff

• the routing includes at least one segment on United metal, and
• no routings are available on exclusively United metal.

I can book EVA flight via united.com if (and only if)

• the routing includes at least one segment on United metal, and
• no routings are available on exclusively United metal

Doesn't seem to always work. For example, TPE-SFO under EVA shows up when you book an additional leg. However, TPE-LAX doesn't seem to be available.

I think many if not all of those TPE-SFO flights are phantom awards as of now. They given me an error on the checkout page and both UA and EVA agents have confirmed they don't see availability.

its ok not expected until end of the year.. luckily UA doing sfo-tpe now.

For BR award business class seats, on United.com I can find SEA-TPE on many days leaving January 2021. TPE-YYZ for February.